Harry Potter and the Deathly Video Game
by Timeandvlove
Summary: After he dies Harry Potter is thrust back into the past with new powers. He must seek master these powers before the mysterious beings that have followed him from the afterlife slay him for good. Inspired by Harry Potter, Deus Ex, the Witcher, the Sims, and Risen and countless video game fanfictions.
1. Chapter 1: Flashback

This is a video game fanfiction about Harry Potter. The fanfiction includes time travel, myriad pairings via Sim like mechanics, and Harry Potter seeking to understand the strange mechanics behind the video game world he is in.

It is (obviously) not fully canon compliant. The main point of divergence, other than the video game system, is the difficulty levels which involve various original characters.

The main influences on how the gaming systems will work are Deus Ex (similar skill systems will be used) the Sims (similar diplomacy powers will be used) DnD (it helps me roll a lot of my stuff) along with various general mechanics from fanfictions of the video game sort.

This, the flashback chapter, is about Dumbledore's life. Any reviews, positive or negative, are valued.

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><p>Five years ago.<p>

18 June, 1996

Albus Dumbledore.

He stood in the long Ministry Atrium hall. It had been built in Enlightment times, long before the Ministry even existed. It looked fantastic- dark and hard ebony wood, imported from the east of Africa in Mozambique by the Dutch across the floor, the ceiling painted in Prussian blue with beautiful swirling and golden runes telling of wizards conquering the world and saving the primitive muggles from the various magical monsters and creatures, heavily inspired by the Greek and Roman artwork that had been seen as the pinnacle of art. It was founded on bloodshed, built with ebony slaves from Mozambique to ensure the power of the noble pureblood families. Now it was about be stained with noble blood instead.

He looked at the wizards facing him. Lucius Malfoy, the charismatic genius behind the power, Bellatrix Lestrange, the almighty warrior, Antonin Dolohov, the brutal duelist. A host of others of lesser power- Rabastan, Augustus, Walder, Crabbe, Avery, Jugson, Nott, Mulciber. They stood, wands at the ready, faces tight and filled with anger, wearing their Death Eater masks and robes- though their masks were no barrier to his sight. He knew each well by their mannerisms from extensive experience. He stood alone, facing the half circle of death eaters.

Lucius strolled forward, ahead of the group. 'Albus, I didn't expect to see you here.' He bowed, every gracious and proper. 'But we have a goal and you are in our way. We outnumber you eleven to one, and soon our lord will be here. We should fight another day.'

Dumbledore could see the nervousness and fear in them. In the past they could likely have slain him- Antonin, Bellatrix and Lucius together could match him in a duel, and with him pinned down by the three a killing curse could bypass any defence he had. Still, a number of them would likely be slain before he lost. Things had changed since then. He spoke to the group.

'Let me give you a counter offer- surrender now-' He swiped his wand down and non verbally summoned a lash of angelowater which whipped around his feet and body, a swirling vortex of magical power. '-or die to my wand.' He saw a flashing sign appear in the air. **Intimidate roll: 4. Failure. **He sighed. Sometimes the dice went against you, and he had done little to optimize his intimidate skill. The death eaters did look notably shaken but the strength of their group held them firm. He would have better success with the order backing him but he was very tired of seeing them die.

Lucius calmly laughed, and then drew his stick-wand up. 'I am very sorry we couldn't come to an agreement. Time for you todie.' The other ten drew up their wands. Dumbledore stood there, hands empty, staring at them, waiting for them to make the first move.

Then, after they glanced at each other, confirming their actions, they all fired curses. A rainbow of color shot at him, deadly curses and jinxes that would tear his skin, rend his spirit, poison him. Dumbledore used his magic and activated his prepared trap- a torrent of transfigured living stone erupted from the ground, slamming around him, resisting their spells. He summoned Fawkes to his side after that, and used him to teleport, bypassing the anti apparition wards of the ministry. A moment later he appeared behind Mulciber, his arms around the man's neck. An expert in mental magic and mind control. Not a skilled duelist. With a powerful snap of his arms and a bright flash of **Unarmed Ability: Bonecrusher** he broke the man's neck.

A spell smashed into his back, a chopping curse. Blood gushed out of his back as the spell ripped him open. His health bar, floating above his head, was cut in half along with him. Then the charm on his body activated, along with his trollish alchemical enhancements. The curse wound, too strong with magic to be quickly healed, split, smaller and weaker versions of the spell spreading out all over his arms and legs and face. He looked and saw that Walder had hurled the spell at him and was sending another.

Dumbledore slashed his wand to the side, prepared a technique summoning up a vivid red shield of light, looking past the flashing lights in the air- **Kinetic Protego (Merlin)** to block the purple lash that Walder shot at him, sending it rebounding back at the death eater. A moment later he flicked his wand and sent a **Divinis Artemis (Monster)** to smash Walders's purple shield and spear out his dark heart. The silver bolt smashed through the shield like it wasn't there, smashing through the death eater. The death eater collapsed to the floor, his bloody insides spread out behind him like devil's wings, his health at **-31. **

One of the Lestrange pair swore at Dumbledore and sent two curses his way. He could see the curses as they flew on wings of black magic, **Blood Boiling Curse (Half-blood), **twisting and spiralling red helixes. He couldn't dodge both in time, so, he paused time.

He had for a very long time been trapped in a time loop. He would go through his years in Hogwarts, seeing these strange floating symbols that spoke of what was in the world, and at the seventh year time would loop again. He would go to the waypoint, be healed up, and sent back in the past. This was the 168th loop. He had, in that time, made some improvements. The ability to pause time was one of them He couldn't move much, he couldn't interact with anything not time locked, but he could use items.

He pulled his cloak open. Inside the thick grey cloak he had potions vial containing a **Foot Lightning Potion (Merlin)**. It had originally been made for a France man, Hugo Schmitz, to help them dance and impress the ladies, though eventually the wizard who had made it had burnt out from the inside from too much use at the middle of a royal gala. He chugged it down, wincing at the bitter taste. After that he chugged down a **Bloodloss potion (Merlin)** to restore his lost health. He had learnt a lot from magical creatures. He'd found a way to partially copy Troll's insane durability by dividing curse wounds across his entire body . It kept him standing, but he'd still lost a lot of blood He waited for it to take effect while he looked around at the situation.

As had happened many times before the death eaters sought the prophesies and he sought to deny them. Bellatrix had summoned a massive wreathe of fiendfyre which was slowly going to surround her companions, blocking any more teleportation attacks and denying his sight. Lucifer was already preparing a powerful curse that would likely blast through his shield. The others were hurling smoke and environmental affects that would attack him if he teleported to the wrong place, cling to him if invisible. He noted their locations. His feet started to tap. He was faster.

He unpaused time and leapt to the side out of the way of the curse while flicking the cloak of invisibility over his body, hiding him from the site of that angry pair. He heard a thud as the ground behind him was twisted and cursed by the magic.

The Lestrange siblings started sending a barrage of curses at him, firing blindly at his invisible form, zoning in on him whenever his wand glowed under the invisible cloak, guided by the smoke in the air that sought to cling to his form despite his invisibility. Green and purple lights flashed by his sides, his skin boiled and blistered as the acidic smoke forced its way through the cloak.

He retreated under the fire and ducked behind a white pillar, pressing his back to it and ignoring the booms of marble tearing off the pillar. A label flashed up in front of him. **Full Cover.** Good. That meant a sixty percent miss chance, even higher with his agility. The strange mechanics of this time loop didn't even require him to move. He could simply stand still and his agility would make spells miss and avoid him- as they did, flashes of light and magic smashing near his exposed legs and arms. He didn't have long though, Bellatrix's fiendfyre could destroy the marble with ease.

He flicked his wand at the ground. From it a pillar arose made of stone, ripped out of the floor. **Stone Golem (Master) HP- 30/30**. He pushed his magic into it and felt its nature, the veins of different stones, the feelings the stone had from a hundred walking across it. He pressed to the stone soul of the creature and asked it for its aid in defending this sacred hall. It agreed, its simple mind pleased for a chance to fight enemies of the state, and surrendered control to him. He then cast his power around it, and out of the pillar stepped a tall, powerful human shaped stone creature, body creaking with each twist.

He then cast the Gemino charm on the Golem and it started to duplicate. It hadn't agreed to that, but he had control now so it didn't matter. With the Elder Wand he could maintain around sixty of them. They served their purpose well enough. They could be slain easily enough by a skilled wizard but unless they could destroy more than thirty in a second they would keep fighting. A cheap golem rush could delay most foes.

The golems started sprinting towards the Death Eaters, biting and slashing at them with teeth and claws of stone. He saw an indicator in the top right very quickly tick up to **Force limit 60** along with a map of the room that displayed all his enemies and allies. Another of his inventions that he'd managed to tie into the time loop- he could very quickly see any part of a battlefield, zoom in on any section and organize those he controlled. He saw half a dozen Golems them explode from a sea of yellow arrows of light that Lucius had fired. A moment later six more attacked Lucius, trying to bash down his shield and racking their claws and faces against his shield. He started giving the golems orders and commands to try and isolate Lucius from the rest.

His danger sense pinged, a giant red arrow warning him of danger. He twisted quickly, dismissing the map and getting his wand ready and saw a death eater, Dolohov according to the indicator above his head, flying with a spelled robe, a trail of black smoke behind him and a blue shield emanating from his wand. Dumbledore flicked a curse off at him. Dolohov took the curse straight on, but his shield took most of the blast, leaving Dolohov with little more than cracked skin. Dumbledore couldn't get another curse off in time- to physical combat then.

This time loop spell let you invest the power of those you defeated into skills. Before this loop he had never fought a person through the simple power of his fists. He had never needed to, relying on the (immense) strength of his magic to win as gentlemen were supposed to. Now was different though. There were limits to how much of this power he could gain- you gained a bit of power each time you slew a person, but if you slew them again in another loop you gained no fresh power. You could very very slowly train a skill up when you ran out of delicious souls. He had a long time to get stronger.

He yanked Dolohov out of the air and slammed him against the pillar. **Unarmed Combat (Half-Blood) +1 point flashed up.** Dolohov's health didn't go down though, indicating some protective charm that allowed him to resist physical trauma. Dolohov responded a moment later by slashing his wand at Dumbledore and sending a long thin green line of force at him.

It bit in deep, leaving a bloody gash of blood on his chest. He'd likely be dead were it not for the cloak's charms which had dulled its force- his health was red at a quarter. He resolved to end the battle before the man used a stronger curse that could end this loop early. He paused time.

Magical creatures were powerful. They had unusual and potent magical abilities that spells couldn't replicate. Their bodies were often used in potions to make especially potent magics. With transfiguration you could become one. He pointed his wand at his head and cast a transfiguration spell, changing his head to that of a dragon. He unpaused.

He opened his mouth from his mouth shot red and yellow fire that poured out over the man. Dolohov managed to cast a **Flame Freezing Charm (Wizard)** stunningly fast but the sheer potency of the fire left his face covered in boils and burns. Dolohov flew away while roaring in pain, his hitpoints at half. Dumbledore summoned a rope that lunged out to grab Dolohov's feet and slam him down. The rope whipped up and down, smashing him against the floor again and again. Up, down, up down, till his spirit flowed into the resurrection stones, fueling it's power. He felt a rush of strength, the power of Dolohov's soul invigorating him along with **6000 experience points**. He then paused and opened up his level up menu- he thought he would level up intimidate this time- perhaps on the next run he could reduce their numbers a little. He pushed the power in, listened to the 'level up' bleep and, checking the situation.

Most of the golems had been lashed to the ceiling or walls or floor by now, disabled. He had given those who were incapacitated orders to not replicate, but he was running out of golems. Lucius was in an isolated position though. He had backed away from the rest and was now hemmed in by their own smoke. Ready to pick off and slay. Bellatrix was advancing towards his position, a torrent of fiendfyre lunging forward. He got ready to create a fresh distraction near her and then attack Malfoy. His wrist then bleeped. His tracking jinx on Voldemort indicated he was about to arrive. No time for Lucius.

The ministry had powerful jinxes blocking any apparition, stronger ones preventing apparition into Floo fireplaces, but phoenix magic could go many places forbidden by wizard spells. He summoned Fawkes and wreathed himself in flames, **Phoenix Teleporting (Master)** into the Floo flames.

He appeared behind Voldemort as Voldemort stepped into the Ministry through the Floo flames. He moved first.

In his head he spoke a dark, guttural incantation in the dark tongue to summon fiendfyre. A gush of cursed fire rushed out of his wand, burning his hand with the heat. Voldemort screamed for a second as he became a pillar of screaming pain and died, his soul burnt out with the dark magic.

The death eaters stopped fighting, staring shocked at him. Dumbledore struck a powerful pose, the fire coiling around him. Some drama was necessary. He called out to them, amplifying his voice with a wandless spell.

'Your master is dead. Surrender now or-'

'Crucio' spoke a voice behind him, filling him with agony. Draco. The boy kicked Dumbledore's wand aside and stamped his foot onto Dumbledore's chest sending fresh bursts of agony through him. His golems all collapsed, no longer guided by him. As Dumbledore shock and spasmed with pain Draco ripped the invisibility cloak off Dumbledore. He took it, along with Dumbledore's wand.

'You shouldn't... be here.' Said Dumbledore, agony lancing through him. Draco had never been here before. He had seen this scene a hundred times and never seen Draco.

Draco grinned, and drew his shirt up, revealing a muscular and toned chest and a twisting, black tattoo of a dragon that writhed and twisted.

'This good enough for you?' He drew his shirt down again and knelt down to Dumbledore, pressing his wand to Dumbledore's throat and began searching through Dumbledore's clothes

'Where is it?' Asked Draco, kicking Dumbledore's side.

Dumbledore stared back with hatred at Draco, unable to move his muscles.

'The stone, where is it?'

Dumbledore managed to force himself to speak again. 'I'll die before I tell you.'

'That can be arranged.'

Bellatrix ran to their side, grabbing Voldemort's singed remains. She pulled him close and shot a look of hatred at Dumbledore.

'You killed him. You bastard.' she shouted at Dumbledore, fists clenched, her face crinkled with rage.

Malfoy shook his head and spoke.

'He's got the resurrection stone somewhere. If we can get Dumbledore to talk we can resurrect Voldemort. You can get your kinkies on with him.' Draco's words caused a sudden change in Bellatrix's body, making her relax and smile.

'I'll do it. I never really thought much of you but you really matured. Thank you Draco.'

Bellatrix drew her wand and jabbed it at Dumbledore

'Crucio'

Pain, far more intense than what Malfoy had given him, smashed through every Occulmency barrier Dumbledore had. He screamed in pain.

He didn't hear the Imperio from Malfoy. He felt it though. Through gritted teeth he heard himself saying.

'The stone of resurrection is in my chest.' Malfoy drew his shirt off again revealing that mark of one of the seven, those terrifying beings that made his travels through time unpredictable and dangerous while seeking to take his hollows for their own. A shadow twisted out from Draco's chest and formed into the form of Ariana, the sister Dumbledore had murdered.

'I hate you.' said the shadow sister. His sister stabbed her hand into his chest, ripping a bloody hole of bones and organs from his flesh. Dumbledore curled into a ball away from the punch. More and more shadows launched out of Draco's chest, shouting out their hate of Dumbledore, ripping into his body, towards that place where he had wrapped the resurrection stone in dynamite. Just before the explosion began he resolved to kill him. He would kill Draco. Then there was a flash of light and then he felt nothing.

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><p><strong>-The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living. Marcus Tullius Cicero<strong>

The death screen flashed before his eyes. He was on the floor of the way station, bloody and barely together and above him various messages flashed saying how well he had done. He didn't care to look. He closed his burnt eyes.

**The game's over and finished good try Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian _Dumbledore_**

**Stats. Str. 12. Dex. 9. Cont. 15. Wis 4. Int 22 Char 16.**

**You have gained 3 new abilities, 4 skill levels, 3 potions and 3 new spells. Click to see full power list.**

**Want to know how well you did at life? Here's the point tally. **

**Level o' monster. 1500 points. Five years live. 65 points. Powers endless. 169 points. Multi-monsters -200 points. Lucretia's kill: -91 points. Died as a virgin. -114 points. No kisses for me. -16.**

**And...Half-Blood!**

**No bonuses approved for you. Try again next time.**

**Want to know every decision you made right or wrong? Click here.**

**You have unlocked the new char skin: Albus Dolohov**

**Wear the skin of the deadly duelist, scarily shock your friends and family. **

**Helpful tips- sustained happiness comes from appreciating what you already have and your relationships, not from outside and beyond as power does lie.**

**w13131313131313131313131313e13131313131313131313131313s13131313131313131313131313e13131313131313131313131313e13131313131313131313131313y13131313131313131313131313o13131313131313131313131313u13131313131313131313131313a13131313131313131313131313l13131313131313131313131313b13131313131313131313131313u13131313131313131313131313s**


	2. Chapter 2: A taste of power

Second Chapter. In video games you often start off with a rather overpowered character who has all the spells and potions and abilities so you can get a chance to try out the system. This is that chapter.

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><p>Present day<p>

30 June, 1997

Main Character: Harry Potter.

That had gone surprisingly well. The pair of them, Harry and Dumbledore, had gone to Voldemort's cave to retrieve his Horcrux, the dark magic that let him live past death. That had turned out to be a fake and then they went to Grimmauld Place after some quick thinking. The place had been freaky. He never wanted to see a plant with spiked tentacles again. That had worked well enough though thanks to some quick thinking with a lamp and an incendio and now they had Voldemort's locket Horcrux.

They flew through the dark night towards Hogwarts, the air whistling in their ears as they flew. As they approached the castle Harry saw something, a dark mark, a wicked grinning green skull with a serpent tongue and with floating arms that ended in sharp claws that glowed a bright rose red, hung above the astronomy tower.

'Look at that!' Harry said.

Dumbledore calmly nodded. 'I see it. Death Eaters in Hogwarts. I am shocked. No one could have predicted this turn of events. We should complain.' Harry waved his arms at the castle to try and make Dumbledore care.

'It's too late for that now. They could be killing people now! We have to stop them!' said Harry.

Dumbledore gestured at the astronomy tower with his wand.

'Let's ambush them from behind. Come with me.'

The pair of them flew over the rampart walls together, soon landing in the deserted tower next to the spinning planet model. Dumbledore stood there silently, not moving, his eyes flickering over nothingness, on occasion waving his hands through the air like he was pushing something aside. Harry waited. It looked... weird but maybe this was what magic users were supposed to do? One of the planets, Pluto he thought, caught his eye. It seemed to be broken, passing over the same point again and again. He glanced up again at the misshapen dark mark.

'What does it mean?' Harry asked Dumbledore 'Is it the real mark? Do you think someone has, really- Professor?'

Dumbledore had sprung to action. He shot sparking balls of light at each of the planet globes, making each of them glow for a moment and slow down.

'Magical traps, for the fight ahead. You were born into trials and troubles and you have made a great man of yourself, Harry.'

Harry nodded. 'Thanks? But we should be going.'

Dumbledore flicked his wand and from the end a massive torrent of dirt and stone erupted, forming into a huge ball. With a wave of his hand Dumbledore sent streams of the dirt into the floor where it seemed to vanish into it.

Dumbledore spoke again, in his ominous tone. 'Hidden golems of earth to defend us. You never sought power like I did but rose to the challenge and did what was necessary. Darker times lie ahead of us, of magic and blood and sorcery and you have grown strong but you will and should not face them alone. ' Harry tightened his grip on his wand.

'Are you luring them up here somehow? Is that why you're charming this place up?

Dumbledore drew out several vials from nowhere and downed them one after the other.

'You got it. I knew you were smart.'

In the dim green and red light from the dark mark Harry saw Dumbledore holding out his hand, and his long wand.

'I have a plan to save us all. Take my wand and give me yours then hide under the cloak, stand by that door' he gestured at the door to the lower parts of the castle with thick chains on it 'with my wand facing outwards. Stay silent. Trust me.'

Harry bit his lip and gripped his wand ever tighter. 'But it's my wand. I can't...' his voice trailed off. Dumbledore walked over him and drew him into a deep hug. He flinched for a moment, then hugged him back. He felt his heart stop racing and relaxed into the comforting smell.

Dumbledore drew back and held his hand out again. 'I need you to trust me Harry. Give me your wand.'

Harry nodded and limply handed over his wand, then took Dumbledore's. Harry pulled away and went under his invisibility cloak, standing by the thick wooden door, arms wrapped around his body defensively. Dumbledore muttered a few quiet words and Harry's wand extended and changed shape to look long and bulbous like Dumbledore's wand. Dumbledore then flicked his hand and Harry's broom rolled into a hidden corner, making a group of spiders flee into cracks in the castle.

No sooner had the last charm been done than the chains on the door started to glow a bright blue and untwist. A moment later the door flew open. Someone rushed through and shouted: 'Expelliarmus' Harry felt a warm happy feeling spread through his body, and felt completely contented. He felt pretty chill under the cloak.

It was Draco Malfoy. That was pretty rad. So he was a death eater? Woah, big shock, another Slytherin death eater. He suppressed an urge to giggle. Expelliarmus didn't make you this happy. He resolved to think about it later when he felt a bit less buzzed. He saw his wand flying over the wall and realized what had happened: Dumbledore had cast a cheering charm on him and in that split second lost his wand. Dumbledore was such a great guy. Pity about his wand. You win some, you lose some.

Dumbledore looked calm and showed no fear as he stood firm on the ramparts. He stared Draco in the face and said. 'Good evening, Draco.'

Malfoy looked around to check they were alone and then started walking towards Dumbledore. 'I heard voices. Who else is here?'

'Are we ever really alone when we are in the heart of another? Though from the sounds of it, you're alone this time.'

'No.' Malfoy said. 'I'm not alone. I got my people in here. Right under your nose. You play at being so wise but really you are an easy to fool old man. And I have a job to do. They believe in me.'

'Very well, then do it, dear Malfoy. You should take your wand and slay me, prove yourself a good death eater' said Dumbledore.

There was silence. Harry stood still, as did Malfoy.

Dumbledore stared at Draco intently and spat to the side, then spoke, his voice filled with disgust.

'Draco, Draco, you are not a killer. They want you because you're their bus driver. You're like Stan Shunpike, a glorified courier with a bit of magic. You failed at killing a Weasley, you don't have the killing intent to slay me. You repaired the vanishing cabinet, true, after months of botched charms and failures, and your people are downstairs.' A muffled scream came from below 'Doing the actual work. You have the magic of a squib and are too much of a coward to slay me. You are a useless betrayal of your family's name, Draco, a squib in a fancy robe.' Malfoy was getting progressively more angry and agitated at each word. Harry wondered why Dumbledore seemed to hate Draco so much, why he was letting loose. Loose. Loose. Harry liked that word, and contemplated how it sounded as he stood still, awaiting some command.

'You are a useless coward, and I am getting really tired of your whining and stupidity you disgusting squib and-' Draco shouted at him. 'I'm not a squib! I'm not a coward. I can do this.' He drew a potion vial from his robe and chugged it down. Draco's body begin to shift, his muscles growing thicker, scales forming over his skin. His eyes went yellow and slitted like a snake. 'Snape gave me this.' Dumbledore frowned sharply at this' 'He said I could be strong. I-'

'No' Said Dumbledore, as he flicked his hand and Harry saw the a tentacle of earth form from the floor behind Draco and then lance out like a snake, smashing Draco from behind. Draco was flung down to the ground, his head smashing against the floor with a mighty thud. Blood started to leak out of his skull across the floor from the injury and the transformation stopped. So that was what the earth trap was for. Harry was a little surprised but not really offended, and leaned back against the wall.

Dumbledore stretched out and smiled at Harry. 'Draco is fine, don't worry. Just a minute or two more. They'll be here soon. You're doing great.

They stood there waiting as Draco's blood spread across the astronomy department's floor. Harry thought he heard a light moaning from Draco but didn't check. Dumbledore had made him so happy with the cheering charm and he wanted to obey him and he trusted him completely. Dumbledore was great. If he said Draco was fine he was, and that was that. And if he died, well, the world wouldn't be that much worse off with one less snake.

A little while later Harry heard a bang and shout from down below. It sounded like someone was rushing up the spiral staircase. Dumbledore then winked at Harry and leaned over, as if he was trying to grab Malfoy's wand. A short while later footsteps smashed loudly on the stairs and four individuals in black robes came in. With a flash of magic one knocked the wand away from Dumbledore's hand. Dumbledore backed away, hands up.

Still feeling no urge to move, Harry gazed in mild curiosity at the backs of the four individuals, the buzzing happiness in his head growing stronger. He hoped none of his friends had been injured when the death eaters won the fight, but he generally didn't care about much. It wasn't his responsibility to babysit them. Though a small part of him seemed to be yelling at him to do something. Best to wait though.

A lumpy and disgusting looking man with a lopsided leer gave a wheezy half laugh.

'Dumbledore wandless, all alone. I'm going to enjoy feeling you die under my wand. All at the cost of one silly boy. I guess you could say Draco...' The man looked at Draco, smashed into the ground. 'fell' from grace' The woman by his side, whose lumpy face bore a resemblance to the man gave an angry titter at this joke.

Another man, a huge one with mattered grey hair and whiskers who smelt of blood and dirt and sweat, with long yellowed nails, spoke. 'I can smell your wandless magic. We're charmed against that. Accidental magic can make playing with kids so... difficult.' He gave a grin, showing off pointed teeth that dripped with blood. 'And I do love playing with kids. ' Harry felt that voice screaming in his head again. Was Hermione OK? Ron? Luna?

Dumbledore spoke. 'Fenrir, Fenrir, you are such a player. And now the whole gang is here...'

Harry heard Dumbledore speak in his mind. Yield to me, Harry. Don't resist. Let your magic fuel this and my will and dominance guide our wand. Harry, trusting the voice, let Dumbledore take control of his body.

'Imperio, Imperio, Imperio, Imperio.' In less than a second he sent the four spells out through the cloak, the absolute need to control from Dumbledore filling his mind. The first three flew true and took control of three of the death eaters but Fenrir swung round and threw up a spell which deflected the curse, sending another curse a moment later at Harry which he hurriedly blocked.

There was a flash of light around Fenrir. The earth reared up from the floor slowly. Fenrir lept over it and moved away, laughing?

'You think I can't see a wandless trap? I told you, I'm used to these childish tricks.' He flicked a purple line of light at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore deflected the charm with his hand sending the charm smashing into the wall and charged forward, lightning fast. Fenrir slashed his claws at him, leaving a bloody gash across Dumbledore's chest as he grabbed Fenrir by the shoulders. Dumbledore leaned forward and opened his mouth, a gush of fire rushing out. Fenrir screamed as his flesh sizzled, soon falling limp in Dumbledore's hands, his head black and cooked like an overdone stake. Dumbledore dropped the limp body to the ground and turned to Harry.

'Transfiguration. So many uses. Be free.' He waved his hand at Harry.

Harry felt the control leave his mind and realized he had been under the Imperius curse. He hadn't even been close to being able to resist it, it was so strong. He got out from under the invisibility cloak.

'Why... did... you? How could you? Force my will, like Voldemort?' He shook the wand at Dumbledore's face. 'You raped my mind'

Dumbledore smiled at him, his eyes glinting brightly and walked over to him. 'We can talk about that, but first, high five?' Dumbledore held his hand up. Harry looked shocked. 'You agreed to obey me, Harry. High five me. You cannot disobey me now.' said Dumbledore, his eyes dark and cold, his voice allowing no disobedience. Harry listlessly held his hand up, staring into Dumbledore's eyes with hate, and Dumbledore high fived him. This strange task done, Harry spoke in a calmer but still agitated tone.

'Ok, done. Look, I get why you did it, to win but you broke my will. You gotta promise not to do it again. I'll cast whatever you say. I'll cast Imperio for you. But don't use that on me.' Dumbledore smiled at him. 'High five again?' Harry stared at him confused. Dumbledore spoke again, his tone cold. 'You promised to obey, Harry. Are you going to break your promises?' Harry high fived him reluctantly.

He felt his pulse cool. These were really fun high fives. 'I guess I get it. You're a great wizard and you needed someone to fight for you. But couldn't you have asked?' Dumbledore nodded. 'I could have. High five, my champion?' Harry shrugged and high fived Dumbledore again, a slight frown on his face.

Harry felt pretty good about Dumbledore. He was his champion. It was weird how just a few seconds ago he had hated Dumbledore but now he trusted him again. 'You defeated them for me, fought to save me. With some crazy moves. Thanks for that. I guess the Imperius is ok.' Dumbledore nodded. 'One more for luck?'

Harry grinned and high fived Dumbledore. 'Dumby, my friend, thank you for Imperiusing me, any time, you are a fine guy.' He leaned over and pulled Dumbledore into another hug. 'Thank you. By the way, why did you do it?' Dumbledore opened his hands out wide.

'Love is the greatest and most glorious force in the world. Our greatest strength, and greatest weakness. I can now, with those death eater's aid, capture all of Toms forces, using their love and trust against them.'

Harry nodded. 'That seems like a really smart plan, like the reverse of what they want to do with the ministry, only a great wizard of great goodness would say that.' Dumbledore smiled and spoke again. 'Thank you. When his armies' He gestured to the three death eaters who stood still and stared listlessly into the distance 'are on our side Tom will-'

As Dumbledore spoke excitedly, Harry saw a figure rise up on a broom behind Dumbledore, past the ramparts, one with long flowing hair. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could do anything they attacked.

A massive pulse of water shot through the room, slamming into Dumbledore like a waterfall. Dumbledore was smashed to the floor and driven to the wall by the pulse, unable to resist it's force. The water then swept across the three captured death eaters, knocking them down to the floor. Harry felt his body freeze up at the same time, his muscles stiff, completely unable to move. A spell?

The person landed, riding Harry's broom. A woman in a skimpy black outfit with long black curly hair, an insane look in her eyes, fingers dripping red with blood and glowing with magic. Bellatrix. That torturing bitch. Harry tried to move but was unable to force himself to even flex his finger.

She walked over to him, and ran her fingers across his cheek, then again with her nail slicing a bloody gorge across his face. She then drew her red blood soaked finger up to her lips. 'Tastes like... Harry Potter. My words are breath, simply that, but immortal nonetheless. You are mine now, forever. I will bind you utterly and make you care for nothing but my words. But first I have your professor to talk to.'

She turned to Dumbledore. He lay against the wall his limbs twisted at awkward angles, nothing but his eyes and lips moving.

'I loaded the water with a paralytic and I used a non verbal tempus fugit on you after. You won't be escaping, Dumbledore. But don't worry, soon you won't want to.' Harry struggled against the magic that held him but couldn't escape. Harry couldn't believe this was happening.

She drew a potion out of her top and a black collar. She started fastening the collar around Dumbledore's neck as he lay there, unable to move.

'I heard you're gay, Dumbledore. You like the boys. You like a bit of man on man love.'

'Hello to you too, Sappho. You are as direct as ever.' said Dumbledore

'Hey, I like what I like. And what I hate is repression. I want you to let your gayness out.' said Bellatrix.

'You're one to talk. You follow Tom like a sick puppy but don't say a word.' She pulled Dumbledore's head to her and fastened the black collar around the back of his neck.

'He'll work out soon enough that my bite is more fun than my bark.' She bit at the air. 'There, the collar is done. Just so you don't try anything stupid I'll tell you how it works. It will bind to your soul beyond death and help us track down your waystation. We broke the encryption on the defences- Lucretia managed to bind a fragment of her soul to yours last time and got it into the system. We know what you're doing. We know about the way station.' said Bellatrix.

'That's really good spellwork. I'm really impressed. How did you manage to solve the contamination issue?' said Dumbledore. Bellatrix beamed at him and started speaking with great enthusiasm.

'I saw what you did with the arrow- very impressive work by the way, mixing wizard magic with light. I worked out a similar way to do it with divine magic. If you align the spell matrix with the divine matrix along a fourth and fifth dimensional axis you can get substantial crossover between them and a certain person' She pushed a finger into Dumbledore's chest 'who has a habit of teleporting away is easy to track. That doesn't stop the contamination as you said, for that you-' Dumbledore reached towards a pocket in his robes and grabbed a potion from there, moving it straight to his lips. Faster, Bellatrix smashed it aside, the red liquid smashing on the stone floor.

'Oh you smart boy, you got me monologuing. Don't worry, I didn't get any glass shards in my hand. I'm surprised you can still move as I loaded that water up with enough paralytic to stop an elephant. Hold on a second. I'll do what I came here to do. I made a love potion for you and Voldemort. You can be gay again. And this one is eternal. It's got some spiritual power in it too.'

Bellatrix leaned down to him and grabbed his face, forcing her potion liquid into Dumbledore's mouth. She pressed her hand to his nose and mouth and held her hand as Dumbledore shock and spasmed, trying to escape her. Eventually he drew in a desperate breathe and the fluid went into him.

She spoke again, her voice deeply seductive 'Come to me, Dumbledore, loosen me from my agony of loneliness. Fill his body with your fiendfyre. Stand up, be by my side, and be my ally. I can feel you resist, occumency hiding the magic's glory. Love will end that. Give in to love. Let love loosen your limbs. Your fate will not be too bad. Accept the bittersweet end and love him with me.'

Dumbledore stretched out an arm, weakly trying to push her back, coughing up fluid that Harry suspected had gone into his lungs. Bellatrix grasped Dumbledore's hand and held it to her chest. 'Talk to me, my fellow lover. Your mind is divided against itself. Given into the change, tell me you need Voldemort.'

Dumbledore tried to say something but failed, coughing up potion. 'What was that dearie?' Bellatrix asked, running her hand across Dumbledore's old wrinkled face. Dumbledore spoke again. 'Sun.'

The large star at the center of the astronomy model yanked itself out, along with all the planets. The mercury model zoomed through the air like a bludger at Bellatrix, forcing her to dive to the side to dodge it. The sun model smashed at Harry's feet sending out a bright blue light that freed him from whatever had paralyzed him.

With a smash Bellatrix blasted the Mercury model away with a red curse. She laughed madly, sending blasts of light out from her wand at incredible speed to explode the zooming planet globes. 'This trickery won't stop me. I can sense the love potion twisting your soul ever further, even if you flee your love for Voldemort will come to dominate you. We're this close to finding where you flee too as well. We won.' Dumbledore stood up quickly, and drew the ring, the other horcrux of Voldemort off his finger. 'Catch.'

He tossed it to Harry, who caught it readily. Bellatrix roared with rage, charging at Harry, smashing aside a Jupiter model that was wreathed with flames. Harry felt his body lurch and he was tossed out of the way of Bellatrix, riding a wave of earth. He struggled to his feet again as Bellatrix turned to charge at him. Dumbledore gestured and earth erupted from the floor, trying to smother Bellatrix and crush her. 'Harry' Shouted Dumbledore. 'Trust me, jump out of the window.' Harry nodded, willing to do anything for that amazing man, and ran to the window and jumped. Behind him he saw a flash of light and a booming explosion but he ignored it, leaping to the ground.

For a few moments as he rushed through the air Harry questioned how his life choices had lead to him committing suicide, then he hit the ground and died.

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><p>Moments later Harry woke up. He was in the Hogwarts entry hall on the staircase with four large glowing letters in front of him.<p>

'NEUES SPIEL'

'SPIEL LADEN'

'OPTIONEN'

'MITWIRKENDE'

He blinked. He blinked again. 'What?'

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><p>I often question my life choices when I am playing video games. It would feel really weird to make a lot of the choices I make them make.<p>

Sappho was a Greek woman who lived thousands of years ago and helped raise lots of very cute ladies to be good little wives.

The text is in German. New game, Load Game, Options, Cast. Albus had his text in German for yet to be revealed reasons but could mentally translate it. Harry can't.

Again, reviews are appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3: Idiosyncratic Difficulty

In video game fanfictions characters always seem to go for the easiest option. This troubles me. I like danger and excitement.

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><p>Harry panted, swinging his head around wildly while the gigantic blue letters floated in front of him. His heart was racing. Had he apparated? He tried to apparate back to the tower but felt the familiar pressure of the Hogwarts charms stopping him. He called out to the room.<p>

'Hello? Is anyone there?'

No one answered him. He was in the currently empty Hogwarts entry hallway, halfway up the oaken stairs. It was a magnificent room with fantastic images of strange creatures etched in the wood, twisted candleholders that held dozens of bright candles, marble statues of old wizards, wands pointing to the sky, of man and centaur united in friendship, one of a crying woman holding a dagger to her chest. Gentle music played in the background. He had no clue how he had apparated here through the barriers but it wasn't where he should be. He had to get to his friends and help them and find someone to stop Bellatrix.

He turned heel and started running up the stairs and collided head first with a previously invisible blue barrier that had formed over the exit.

He fell to the floor, red thick blood gushing out of his nose and splattering onto the floor.

He twisted over, facing down and leaning on his elbows, and drew Dumbledore's wand out and pointed it at his own face.

'Episkey.' With a loud crack his nose set back into place. He was really glad he had that spell. He'd had a lot of cracks and falls in Quidditch, it was a brilliant charm to use. It didn't fix anything other than the skin and connective things but it would hold you together even if you were breaking apart.

He carefully got up and swayed, still feeling dizzy. He blinked several times till his vision cleared and then looked at the barrier.

It had vanished again, except for a spot in the middle where his blood covered shining blue light. It responded to touch? He kicked at the air at the bottom of the barrier. A wave of blue spread from where he kicked. Perhaps it was some death eater curse? He had to find an exit anyway, his friends needed him. Damn this barrier.

He swung his fist at the barrier hard, trying to force his way through. His hand bounced off the barrier with little impact on it beyond making a ripple of blue spread out and hurting his hand. He took a deep breath, flicked his arms out in a calming motion, letting his worries fall out. He had to work out if there was an exit.

He stuck the wand out and flicked it in a wavey motion. 'Aquamenti' From the tip gushed a jet of water that he swung around the area. The blue barrier started to glow all around him as it was covered with water, on the stairs up and down, on every exit, even above and below him. There was no easy escape that he could see. He had coated every available surface in water and the room glowed bright blue now from every direction.

He turned back to the letters again.

'NEUES SPIEL'

'SPIEL LADEN'

'OPTIONEN'

'MITWIRKENDE'

It looked like some sort of foreign language. Maybe some kind of riddle only death eaters could solve? He was good at riddles. He'd try reading it out first.

'Neues spiel-'

The bottom three letters vanished from sight and the NEUES SPIEL letters grew in size, flashing brightly. Harry quickly summoned up a shield, ready for attack. None came. The letters vanished with a puff, and the music in the background stopped. Harry swung his head around. The barriers around him still held.

He looked back. In front of him the water that had barred his way had fallen to the ground. The statue in front him were starting to change, their stone bodies turning to flesh. He watched wand at the ready.

They were him. There were seven of the statues each versions of him at a different age. He glanced over each while noting their features.

One was a very young ten year old version of him wearing nothing but underwear and cringing away from some threat, with floating purple letters above it that said MUGGEL. Muggle? That was pretty insulting.

The second was an eleven year old year old version of him wearing a muggle shirt and shorts that couldn't seem to keep a grip on his wand and kept dropping it, with floating purple letters above him that said SCHLAMMBLUT. He had no clue what that meant.

The third was a twelve year old version wearing a tattered oversized mangy pink robe that could hold its wand but seemed to want to pick his own nose with it. Blue letters next to it said TIERWESEN. 'TeeharWeeson.' He said. No clue.

The fourth was a thirteen year old version of him that had a steady grip of its wand, holding it in front of him to ward off some thread, wearing a normal black Hogwarts robe. Green letters that floated by his head said HALBBLUT. Half blood maybe?

The fifth was a fourteen year old version of him that confidently held his wand, ready for a fight, and wore a prefect's badge as well as a well made Hogwarts robe. Glowing yellow letters that floated above him said REINBLUTIG. He also had no idea what that meant.

The sixth was a fifteen year old version of him, about his own age, whose wand glowed with power and magic, wearing a fine cut black robe and a headboy badge. Glowing orange letters said ZAUBERER for this one. That was not at all clear.

The sixth was an older version of him, a year or two older, he wasn't sure. He wore a hip length brown jacket with a purple waist coat, sharp and snappy black trousers, and held a broomstick in one hand, a wand in the other. The statue's eyes tightened with deadly purpose. Intense glowing red letters next to him said MERLIN. That was clear enough.

Harry spoke. 'Hello, why are you me?'

The status all turned to him and started babbling at him in some harsh sounding language. He tried to understand them but nothing they said made sense. He waved his hand at them. 'Ok shut up. You're not helping. You can't make me understand your babble just by speaking louder.' The statues looked ashamed for a moment and then went back to their poses, occasionally glancing at him.

He looked over the statues. Maybe this was some sort of Hogwarts defence system? It would transform him into one of them so he could be stronger? There was no way of knowing. He had to get out of this trap so he had to make a decision even if he didn't know. He had to know now, for Ginny, for Hermione, for Ron. He gripped his wand tightly and spoke.

'Merlin.'

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><p>German translations. Muggle, Mud-blood, Monster, Half-blood, Pure-blood, Wizard, Merlin.<p>

Reviews are appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4: Only a flesh wound

The statue of Harry slipped its wand into a pocket and stepped down off its stone podium, blinking several times as if it woke up. He then looked Harry right in the eyes, running his eyes all over Harry, inspecting him. Harry sort to question it.

'Hello there. I really need to go help my friends. Can you help me? I don't know what you are or why I've been taken here but they're in danger. I need to go save them.'

The statue stepped up to Harry, hooking his broomstick under one arm, and pressed a hand to his chest, not speaking. Harry stepped back, but the statue stepped with him, holding his hand on Harry's chest. The lights of the hall grew dim and the statue's hand started to glow blue, sending pulses of light out. Harry looked at the statue- he looked very determined, worried. The statue's face glowed in the dark like a lamp with each flash, his face responding to each flash with a light blue flash in return. Harry stood there, bemused.

'Is this some kind of test?' The statue's hands stopped pulsing and he drew Harry close to him.

'Wo ist Dumbledore?' It said, teeth clenched, slamming him back against the wooden wall with inhuman speed. 'Wo ist Dumbledore?' it repeated. Harry smacked the statue's hands away and pushed it back. Before it could fall to the wall Harry cast stupefy on it, freezing his enemy's attack. The statue slumped to his knees, still clearly conscious, but able to move little but his hate filled eyes, its broomstick and wand

'I've been trying to tell you, stoney. If I don't go back Dumbledore will die. I have to go back.'

'Sie werden ihn töten?' said the statue, looking at him, desperation on its face.

Harry sighed. This statue was as easy to understand as Binns in a lecture.

'If you can understand me, nod, if you can't shake your head.'

The statue slowly nodded, eyes fixed on him.

'Good. If I go through that door- Harry gestured at the door to his right, away from the stairs, large and ornate, made of thick stone with carvings of cherubs and angels on it,'-will I be able to get to my friends?'

The statue slowly nodded again, muttering words under its breath in what sounded like a very angry tone. Harry ignored this, too annoyed to care about some magically animated statue. He didn't have time to deal with this.

'Fine. I'm going to go then. You're pissing me off.' He turned and started to go to the door when the statue spoke again.

'Sie werden ihn töten?' The statue had a pleading tone, hands stretched out desperately on the floor, its expensive jacket rumpled and folded with its awkward contortions, the jacket slipping off one shoulder.

Harry sighed. 'Yes, fine, whatever. And now I'm going. Goodbye. Enjoy being a statue' The statue looked up, eyes glinting hatred. 'Fass!' Harry heard the sound of grinding and turned his head. Another of the statues attacked, the foppish first year version in knickers and nothing else. With a twist and a step Harry stepped to the side as the young statue charged at him and crashed to the ground, its arm cracking off and sliding across the floor, without a drop of blood. Statue. It sounded more like stone hitting wood than flesh too. It was definitely a statue.

The rest of the statues were slowly getting off their podiums, more weary, glancing at each other and slowly moving. The exit was blocked.

'I don't want to fight you all, but I am faster and will win. Just let me go and you can go back to being pooped on by birds like all good statues.' He kept a careful eye on their wands. He doubted they could use them as they were just statues and why have a wizard school if you can just make wizards from statues but they might have some tricks.

'Move.' He swished his wand. 'Now.' The oldest one, in a school outfit with the head boy badge, Zauberer he thought, slowly reached out a hand at him. Harry watched, till a burst of blue light slammed out of the statue's hands, smashing Harry backwards. He flew through the air and collided with the barrier atop the stairs, making it buzz like a swarm of hornets behind him, then collapsed to the floor. Waves of pain pulsed through him. He looked down. His left leg was at some horrible angle, snapped by the fall.

He looked up, head dazed, and saw them advancing on him. He had to escape.

'Accio broom.' The oldest, Merlin statue of him's broom flew towards him, knocking the head of the muggle clothes wearing version of him as it flew past. It grabbed the broom, holding onto it as it flew. Harry caught the broom, swung up onto it and zoomed past the heads of the four statues. His unwelcome guest swung its wand at him like a club with a powerful and fast blow. He blocked it with one arm and felt the wand snap on his arm, stabbing shards of wood into his arm and then backhanded the statue down to the floor, sending it down with a crash.

After this he went down to the end of the corridor to the ornate angel covered door and flicked his wand in a sharp z motion, focusing his will on forcing the door open. 'Alohomora' He cast the spell at the ornate door then grasped the handle and tried to open it, failing. He swore. It must have an anti alohomora charm on it.

He heard a scraping as the statue that had been clinging on came in behind him and saw it charging at him with animalistic rage, the sharpened broken wand in its hand. He stepped aside, grabbed his younger statue self by the sides of its brown haired head, and using the magical movement of his broom smashed it head first against the door. With a booming sound its head smashed into pieces in his hands, leaving the door dented.

He had to get through- soon the other statues would work up more courage and perhaps cast more of that strange blue magic. When he'd smashed the statue against the door it had chipped it- maybe the door was vulnerable to smashing spells?

He heard a woosh behind him and instinctively ducked as a pulse of blue shot out from behind him, crashing harmlessly against the door. The clock was ticking for him.

He turned back to the door and gestured a v shape with his wand, focusing his will into the desire to smash and destroy.

'Reductor' Every single cherub, angel, or holy being was annihilated instantly by the spell, the door of angels ripping itself into dust at the casting of his spell. Harry flew into the room and darted behind the door, away from the attacks.

He was in a massive room. A semicircular room, about as high as Hogwarts was tall, with a glowing white star map on the roof. Every surface, floors, walls, ceiling, was made of white marble which glowed bright with a shining light from the machinery at the center of the room. Seven giant floating rings of gold with the largest ring on the outside, a smaller ring inside of it, and so on and so forth. At the center of these seven floating rings was a floating white ball of fluid which shot out a bright white light that filled the room.

He felt a sudden desire to go inside the ball of fluid and drink deep of its whiteness. He blinked, surprised, and shook his head, trying to throw off the sudden irrational whim. He had to heal himself first anyway. He pointed his wand at his leg. 'Episkey'. The bone set into place. The charm wouldn't regrow bone, but it would set it and heal any broken skin. He'd used it a lot after bad falls in Quidditch for that. He glanced into the door back into the corridor and was rewarded with a pulse of blue which he ducked away from. They were now advancing faster, hand in hand. He flicked his wand at them twice.

'Reductor' . A ball of light flew at them from his wand and then bounced off a blue magical wall in front of them into the wooden wall at the side, causing it to explode into wooden fragments. They responded by chanting, and sending a massive pulse of blue light at Harry. He quickly summoned up a protego to block it, but the sheer forced of the pulse slammed him back and sent him spinning on the broomstick, the pulse reflected off his shield onto the wall.

Harry quickly recovered and swerved away on the broom from another blue pulse which shot at him. He darted around, flicking curses at them, zooming just past more blue pulses, but the statue's shimmering shield blocked everything he could cast, not even wavering.

The blue pulse had been reflected. Harry had seen skilled duelists reflect spells back at a person so perhaps he could do the same and use their own magic against them.

He came to a stop and cast protego, making a shield, pouring all of his will and desire into it.

'Come at me, I can take you.'

The statues, now standing at the destroyed door, all with determined looks on their faces and all glowing a faint blue shot a beam of blue light at him. He swung his knees back, ready to push back with the broom.

He felt the broom and his arm shaking with the force. The beam of light was reflecting off his shield at the corner of the room, and he could feel his shield collapsing under it. It was already flickering. He quickly twisted his wand arm, redirecting the beam of light back at the group.

When it hit their shield there was a bright flash of light. Harry glared through burning eyes down. The four statues had been knocked to the floor by their own blast. Time to take them out.

There were certain prefixes you could add to spells. Reliable ones. Spell creation was a dangerous art but the right words could shape the magic into a much more useful form. He was going to destroy these statues and get some space to breathe.

'Reductor maximus.' A massive blue spear of light lanced out from his wand, smashing into the fallen statues. Harry turned his face away from them and clenched his eyes, not wanting to be blinded any more.

He looked back a moment later. The area was a smoking crater, splattered with red blood. Several mangled looking house elves lay at the bottom, their bodies ripped apart and filled with holes. They didn't appear to be moving. He could see one still had a cracked black robe arm made of what he could now see was grey granite mounted on its arm. A costume.

He swore loudly. He had really messed up. He was a murderer.

Into the crater the oldest statue stepped. It shouted up something incoherent in an angry voice and then waved its wand. Three red lights shot out of it, zooming at Harry.

He swerved away, going towards the giant gold machine. He flew right at it then at the last moment twisted around a ring, and was rewarded with the sound of two explosions behind him. One more.

He span round and hurled up a shield. The missile collided with the shield, sending out waves of intense heat and light right through his shield. Harry screeched and swerved away as his face started to burn.

He quickly splashed himself with summoned water to douse the pain and span out from the golden machine, firing of a volley of curses at-

The statue had shifted shape. Rather than being a copy of him it was now a tall, probably taller than him thing that looked like a giant house elf. Long gangly limbs, big floppy ears and in front of it was a large column of earth it was summoning from the ground that shielded it. His curses smashed into the earth, smashing out a segment but doing little to stop it due to its sheer size.

The column of earth shot at him, branching out into tendrils that sought to cut off his escape. He flew away, hurling reductors at the earth. They exploded huge segments into dust but more earth kept coming, chasing after him. He heard a cry and the giant elf shot another three pulses of red at him. He had to escape. He turned his broom downwards and zoomed towards the fluid. It was the only conceivable way this room could let him escape.

Moving faster than a speeding car he smashed into the fluid. The broom shot out of his feet and he stopped moving, stuck in the floating white fluid. The golden rings around him started to move. The inner most ring's front edge swung vertically down, smashing through the giant elf's summoned earth, the back edge of the ring moving up behind him. The other rings moved in more confusing ways around him, faster and faster, till it looked to him like he was in a sphere of whirling gold.

Feeling a sudden urge to breathe he gulped in the white liquid. It felt good as it filled him, coating his lungs, warm and comforting. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again he was in his bed in the closet under the stairs at 4 privet drive, a tight cramped room with little more than a bed and. He looked over his body. He was younger. His leg was still broken though, and his face burnt by the red spell. His arm itched from where the house elf had stabbed him with the wand. He was still buzzing with the fight too, or all this would seriously hurt.

He got up and patted his pj pockets. No wand. Dumbledore's wand hadn't come with him. Nor had the broom from a quick glance around the room.

The door swung open. Vernon came in, his uncle, a massive red faced man with a purple face and a bushy black mustache, and grabbed him by the shoulder, dragging him away. Harry limped along, not sure what was happening. Vernon spoke to him as he dragged Harry along.

'Come on, there's a woman here to see you boy. She's from the army. Says she has a place even for a real troubling boy like you. Serves you right, it'll get you out of our hair.'

He tossed Harry into the kitchen. He slammed to his knees, staring at the clean white floor, the smell of antiseptic filling his nose. He then got up and looked to see who the woman was. There, sitting at the table, was Bellatrix. She was calmly sitting in a chair, her long brown hair tied back into a pony tail, wearing new looking army camouflages that clung tightly to her form, arms resting on the table. She smiled warmly at him.

'Harry Potter. I have really been looking forward to seeing you.'


	5. Chapter 5: Candy is dandy

The chapter in which Bellatrix shows the utility of various drugs.

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><p>Bellatrix stood up and walked up to Vernon, looking very professional in her army attires, a firm and focused look on her face. Vernon had his chest puffed out and was standing straight like he was trying to show off and impress her.<p>

'Thank you for bringing him here. I know losing your dear nephew to the order and structure of the military is hard but,' Bellatrix looked at Harry and smiled in the same sort of way he imagined a lion smiled at its prey. 'the Hellenic regiment always needs new blood.'

Vernon snorted with annoyance.

'We've always done our best for the boy, fed him, clothed him, taught him proper ways but he's really been a disappointment, going out of his way to be a failure. It's our fault of course. Not enough structure or discipline to stop him being bad. It is hard knowing he'll go, but I'm really happy knowing he'll get what...' He looked at Harry, his face red with a flush of rage, his fists clenched. 'What he deserves. Because I care.'

Bellatrix clapped Vernon's hand and heartily patted him the back. Vernon beamed happily at this, shaking her hand vigorously. Harry saw red letters, like those above the statue, pop up above him. Erfolg : Verfuhrung. Neither of the pair seemed to pay attention to these floating letters.

'Thank you for being a great parent and caring for the needs of your child even in times of trouble. Now I,'

She patted her chest, pausing to take a breath. She had little breast line or shape to her form. It looked like some sort of body armor which covered up any shape. Harry wiped away some sweat from his forehead.

Bellatrix continued. 'And Mr Potter and I have a lot to talk about. In life you have a choice, suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of failure, and he will choose correctly with me.'

Vernon nodded. 'I'll leave you two alone then. You knock some discipline into him' He left and turned around to close the door behind him grinning a wicked smile at Harry as the door shut.

Bellatrix held a finger up. 'Just a second Harry, I'll get to you soon.' She drew out her lung claw like wand out and started waving it around the room casting brightly colored spells at the wall and door and windows. Harry stood there, silently, avoiding putting any weight on his injured leg, and glanced around looking for a weapon. He had to kill her now.

The room had a short corridor for entry, then the main kitchen area, spic and span and high tech and modern. On the left was the brown counter made out of fake wood. A toaster and a blender and a kettle, filled with hot water, were plugged in, and a wooden block was filled with knives. He could reach the kettle in a second and hurl it. The knives would take a moment to draw and he knew Bellatrix was fast so the water would stun her and he could kill her, be a murderer again. The image of dead house elves flashed in front of his eyes for a moment. Ahead of him was the oven. Some food was cooking inside, pork he thought from the smell. In the middle of the room a large square table with four chairs sat, a glass of water partially drunk near the chair closest to him.

Bellatrix spoke again. 'I've sealed the room from anyone listening or spying on us. We're free to talk now without your oaf of an uncle calling us freaks.' Harry stared at her wand. He couldn't move whilst she had that pointed at him. Bellatrix looked down at her wand, up at his face, and laughed and put it down.

'Sorry about that, I meant you no harm, I-'

Harry moved the instant the wand was down. He lunged to the kettle, grabbed it, and hurled the boiling water and coffee at Bellatrix's face as she put her hands up and screeched. Then he grabbed the knife, took a moment to yank it out, and then slashed it across Bellatrix's bare neck. The knife broke in his hand and disintegrated into dust leaving no mark or injury, sending out an explosive wave of light that forced him back against the counter. Bellatrix flicked her wet hands and spat out some of the steaming water, clearly not in much pain.

'Urgh, you got me all wet, and these were new clothes too. You're lucky magic can clean stains out of hair and clothes or I would be seriously annoyed at you.' She drew her wand again and waved it at her hair and clothes, the brown stains quickly vanishing. Harry stood there, shocked that nothing he had done had harmed her at all. He felt like he burning up. His blood was boiling and he felt so hot and he couldn't even let it out on her.

'I used to do this to the girls with olive oil whenever they got something in their hair. Rub it in, leave it for half an hour, and wash it with warm water. Magic is a lot faster.' She finished removing the stains and then went to the table. Harry flopped back against the counter, wishing he had somewhere to hide. She had tortured Neville's parents into insanity, was the most powerful of Voldemort's servants and was here in his house, charmed against his attacks and speaking some nonsense about hair.

'I won't talk. You might as well kill me now. I won't break under Imperio either.'

Bellatrix sadly shook her head.

'I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to save you. Save you from your abusive muggle family'

Harry shook his head. He wouldn't give into her lies.

'I don't want any part of your evil prejudice. I know who you are, I know you're Voldemort's woman. You can't fool me.'

Bellatrix daintily sat down in a chair.

'Did that Squib tell you about me? No matter. She's wrong anyway. Look, who do you think I am?'

Harry went silent. He had come from the future and didn't want to reveal all he knew. He shouldn't say anything. He looked down, away from her eyes, and went silent. She was evil.

'I promise you, I swear on my honour, I won't harm you in this house. I am not really Bellatrix Lestrange. I am Sappho.'

'Polyjuice?' Harry asked. He didn't really believe it, though her mannerism and way of talking was different from Bellatrix.

'No.' She clapped her hands to her face, finely chiselled and beautiful if wicked and evil, in deep thought. Then she walked over to the window and pulled up the curtains. The light shined on her body and it changed and twisted along with her clothes. She soon had short brown hair, a golden band on her forehead. Over her shoulders she wore a deep red cloak, across her body a green skirt made of thick fabric that flowed down her body. If before Bellatrix had been attractive, this woman looked even more beautiful, her every movement seductive and attractive, her face perfectly shaped. The devil in female form.

'Sit down. You're not going to want to be standing on that leg when I explain this, it's shocking and mysterious.' Harry obeyed her, keeping an eye on her at all times, hobbling to the chair next to the glass of water. Best to not piss off the dangerous death eater till you had a plan.

Bellatrix, or whoever the woman was (and he didn't trust someone like her to tell the truth) drew out a green vial from a pocket and pushed it towards Harry.

'This is Veritaserum. It's a powerful magical truth serum. Three drops will make a person tell the complete truth as they believe it.'

Harry looked at the vial. Dolores had tried to use it on him before to force him to reveal his secrets. That had been a freaky year. It looked like this one was going to be just as bad. He hated Bellatrix and he refused to give in. Maybe he could shove her in the oven and burn her. Maybe he could stab her eyes.

'How do I know this is really Veritaserum?'

'Drink it, let it go under your skin and fill your body with the word and truth of Aletheia.'

'I thought we covered this, I'm not letting you into my mind.' He had to justify it somehow. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking hard of some lie to tell so she wouldn't go into his mind. He didn't want her to torture him to insanity like Neville's parents. Better to die than that. Maybe he deserved that. He was a murderer. 'I resisted Voldemort as a baby, I can resist that now.'

Bellatrix shook her head, staring into the distance for a moment and spoke in a nostalgic tone. 'I spoke to Lily several times. A beautiful woman with a brilliant mind. She charmed the world with her motherly love, her spell and protection as strong as her bond with you.' She looked up at him again.

'Sorry. Old memories. I'm glad you know so much about the ways of magic. You did a great deed, stopping Voldemort.' She rubbed his elbow. 'And I think you're pretty cool. No need to worry, I planned for this.'

She waved her wand at the corner. Dudley's head appeared on the floor separated from any body. Harry gripped the arms of the chair tightly. Then the rest of the veil dropped and Dudley's sleeping form was visible on the floor.

'Why is my cousin unconscious on the floor? I don't like him, but if you want to hurt someone, just hurt me instead.'

'No hurting, I promise. I gave him a sweetie laced with alcohol. I thought he might be useful. Wakey wakey.' She waved her wand again and Dudley slowly got up, eyes tired, speaking, his voice slurred.

'Whurr, what's happening. I feel tired. Harry you.' He swayed and collapsed onto the table. He then dragged himself to a chair, swinging his fat legs into it and slumping on the table.

'Dudley dear, a growing boy like you needs his sleep and food. Want some more sweeties?'

She drew out a packet of yellow lemon flavoured sweeties from her robe and offered them to Dudley.

'My favorite. Gimmie.' He reached out to grab some and Bellatrix drew them back.

'Wait a second, let me add some special flavour to tantalize your tongue.' She uncorked the vial of what was supposedly Veritaserum and dripped several drops onto the sweets. She then offered it again. Dudley drew back for a moment.

'My mom said I shouldn't eat poisoned sweeties from strangers.'

Bellatrix smiled at him and spoke in a soft and sweet tone.

'Oh, but I'm not a stranger, I'm your friend. You can trust me.'

Erfolg : Diplomatie flashed on top of Dudley's head. Diplomacy? Whatever it meant, Dudley apparently was no longer worried and was stuffing a handful of sweats in his fat face. Harry drew back into his chair, shaking. This strange new magic could make people stupid.

'What's your most embarrassing memory?' said Bellatrix.

'None you business thanks.' Ausfall : Diplomatie flashed above Dudley's head. Maybe Ausfall meant failure, Erfolg meant success? Her previous words had convinced Dudley to eat sweets, these words hadn't. Some new charm from than strange room in Hogwarts he supposed. It would let him avoid her dangerous ways. Dudley then grabbed a handful of sweets and stuffed them in his mouth.

'Again, what's your most embarrassing memory.'

Dudley spoke while munching on the sweets, his voice surprisingly clear. 'I went to my arts class once after school to collect a project. I caught my teacher singing Rock With You by Michael Jackson. I sung it with her, like a duet. It became our in joke that she loved Michael Jackson, we'd hum it to each other in the corridor. Near Valentine's day I was at a store and saw one of those singing animals that sung that song. I bought it and then gave it to her in front of the class. She played it and then I realized I'd confessed my love for her in front of the entire class. They laughed at me and mocked me. I was teased by everyone for the rest of the year and now feel ashamed of loving girls.' Harry smiled. This was good. He just had to hum that song and he could make Dudley shut up. He slapped his cheek gently. Wake up. He shouldn't use what was acquired by force against Dudley. That was immoral.

Bellatrix nodded. 'As you should, women are to men as a hare is to a wolf'

Dudley blinked. 'Why did I tell you that? And what about women?'

Bellatrix took out a packet of purple sweeties. 'Shh, don't ask, you look as pale as a cloud, you need more food.

Dudley took another handful of purple sweeties, pushed them in his mouth and chewed. He then collapsed onto the table, asleep, and started snoring.

Bellatrix turned to Harry again. 'Your cousin is adorable. I feel all motherly taking care of him, feeding him. So, was that clear enoughproof?'

Harry spoke. 'That's pretty clear proof. And wow. I didn't know he had it in him.' Bellatrix was being very kind.

'Thank you Bellatrix.'

Bellatrix nodded. 'Thank you Harry, I try to be clear. Communication isn't a given, it takes effort. Let me get rid of the distraction. '

Bellatrix waved her wand at Dudley and he went invisible again, though Harry could see a small pile of drool spreading on the table from nothingness. She waved it again and the sound from his snoring stopped. She then rolled her wand over to Harry.

'You can hold it for now. See, I am not using my wand to change the liquid.' Harry grasped Bellatrix's wand. He knew she was a threat. He wiped the sweat from his forehead again. It was really hot.

Bellatrix then dropped three drops of the Veritaserum onto her tongue. She wiggled her tongue around then drew it back in and swallowed, running her hands down her body as though she was guiding the potion down.

'My name is Sappho, I mean you no harm and cannot harm you, and I am speaking the truth. Two plus two is-' she bit her tongue suddenly.

'I can't say two plus two is five. It's working. So Harry let me first show you my honesty. You can ask me any seven questions you wish and I'll stay and answer them truthfully and completely. I swear this on Aphrodite and Eos.'

Harry looked at her, running his eye over her body. She looked very relaxed and comfortable, lounging in her long flowing outfit. He saw no tenseness or deception. 'Any seven questions?'

She smiled at him and giggled. 'Yes, and don't worry, I won't count that one. You're funny.'

Harry smiled and relaxed into his chair, his hands dropping limply by the side. He put the wand down. What should he ask?

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><p>Any questions from readers that you'd ask her? If so, say in the reviews and I can ask. I know some questions I'm definitely having him ask, but suggestions are welcome.<p>

I intend to introduce the combat system in chapter 7 so levelling up and such will be happening soon. At the moment the social sims style system is the main thing that's happening gamewise, though some background stuff is going on as well.

I don't condone drugging up small children, incidentally.


	6. Chapter 6: but liquer is quicker

In which Sappho advances her views on morality and religion.

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><p>Harry stroked his chin thoughtfully and was momentarily surprised by the complete lack of stubble. It hadn't really sunk into his mind that he was now young, transported back in time by the Hogwarts defence systems, there to prove himself and save his companions. He glanced over at... Sappho, not Bellatrix. She was looking very friendly, still radiantly beautiful, arms open and pose welcoming as she sat at the table. Seven questions to ask her. It was really a strange scenario but he supposed wizards were just weird.<p>

'I need a moment to think.' said Harry, wiping more sweat off his forehead. Sappho nodded and pressed her small olive hand to the chest of her green skirt.

'I'm not trying to trick you. I'm this weird wizard who turned up on your doorstep of you, the Merlin of this generation who stopped the dark lord. You know the world of magic, you know what Veritaserum is, I'm not going to fool one like you by lying. I want you to have the freedom to learn whatever you want to learn about me because I want your help and I want your help honestly.'

'Yeah. It's weird but I feel like I can trust you.' Sappho grinned in a very wicked manner, leaned across the table, and patted his arm.

'I have your best interests at heart.'

'Thanks for that. Well, my first question must be who is this beautiful woman in front of me and why was she wearing Bellatrix's form?'

Sappho preened, though he saw her left fist clench. 'You are such a charming lad. I am Sappho, servant of the gods Aphrodite, of love, and Eos, of the dawn and feverish love. I possessed Bellatrix so that I could have a form here and talk to you.'

Harry swung his eyes over her appraisingly again. She looked normal enough, except for her beauty, not like some undead ghoul from the tely.

'What do you mean by you possessed her? Can she still do things? She was a pretty evil person, not like you.'

Sappho held up her index finger and made it wiggle like a snake towards her brain. She was gripping the table tightly with her left hand.

'My soul went into her brain and took control. She can still see and hear things but she is as active as a sloth. I can control her. Anyway, second question. Ask me more.'

Harry nodded and waved his hand at Sappho's body.

'You don't seem like a normal wizard since you ignored my attack.' said Harry. Sappho grinned wryly

'You ignored Voldemort's attack, so you did it first.'

Harry frowned at her and shook his head disapprovingly.

'Taking advantage of me being an orphan to avoid a question. That's low.'

'Orphans are pretty easy to take advantage of.' Sappho smiled with an infuriating smile. Harry thought he should be mad at her but couldn't maintain it against that smile.

'Why is that?'

'Orphans get to chose their parents, unlike most young men. You can love more than others because you get to chose the ones you love. You can choose better than Dursley here and your love can be as bright and pure as the sun. Unlike...' She gestured to the pile of drool spreading out from Harry's invisible cousin.

Harry laughed. This woman really got it. 'Yeah. He's pretty screwed up. I guess I do have it better than him. Thanks.'

Sappho nodded, then flicked back a shining brown hair that had fallen across her face.

'You do. Way better. You're a wizard too which makes you even better. Anyway, ready to ask the second question?'

Harry nodded, ignoring for now her racism. He was used to comments like that about muggles.

'What magic powers do you have? That was what I wanted to say earlier.'

Sappho raised her hands, and they glowed with a bright white light.

'I can summon the powers of the dawn into me and fire them out to defend myself or attack others as long as my connection to the dawn is strong. This makes me invulnerable to physical and magical harm and lets me smash through most shields with blasts of light.'

Harry looked at her surprise. He hooked a finger into his top and pulled it away from his sweaty skin.

'Nothing can harm you at all? Glad you're on our side.'

She nodded. 'Barring the odd extreme power like fiendfyre, no. And yes, you are a very lucky man.'

She gestured at her head. 'From Aphrodite I have the power of love. I can make any two creatures which are suitable for each other fall in love. I can store a number of their offspring or any being filled with the power of love in my head and use them to protect me. Magical hybrids generally, though I can store people. I also have all the power and witchery of Bellatrix. Or at least I will. She's resisting me now. Even without her though, I am an experienced witch from before. And of course, I have my brains and beauty as well.'

Harry nodded, rubbing his head. He was starting to get a headache, it was so hot and he was sweating like a pig. He took the glass of water from the table and gulped it down.

'Thank you for all your kindness. No one else was as honest as you. You're great. So next, I think I'll ask about those gods. Aphrodite, Eos. I heard of Aphrodite, the greek god of love? So they're real? Could you please tell me about them Sappho?'

Sappho grasped her skirt at the shoulder and yanked it down, revealing more beautiful olive skin and a tattoo of a nude woman with long flowing red hair. She floated in the sea with flowers all around her. She then pulled down the other shapely and feminine shoulder and revealed another clothed red haired woman with long white wings, holding a man in her arms tightly to her. She then spoke, her voice beautiful and melodic.

'Thousands of years I served them in life. I was a teacher who helped women become beautiful and fair for marriage, taught them the ways of love, both the duty filled and responsible love of man and woman, and the passion and desire filled ways of women. I protected those women in society who were poorly valued, the courtesans-'

Harry noted that he probably shouldn't know that word as a ten year old and kept his face blank.

'And the unmarried women. I honoured them. The gods-' she tapped each shoulder tattoo in turn,' granted me power and the freedom to beseech favors from the other gods. They bind me to their rules, including truth, hospitality and such which mean I can't harm you or lie to you here, even beyond the charms from your mother in this place that barely tolerate my presence- if I actively harmed you in any way I think those charms would kick me out. In return I bring many to their worship. Before I came here today I helped convert more than two dozen wicca women to their worship.'

That was very helpful, though he was curious about more modern religions.

'Since you're experienced do you know if Christianity is true at all?'

She smiled at him and playfully touched his hand, a move that sent shivers through him. 'Experienced? Clarify that part of the question please.'

Harry flicked her hand back. 'Sounds better than old.'

Sappho looked him in the eyes, her bright emerald eyes twinkling with mischievousness.

'Do I look old?'

Harry nodded and spoke in a very serious tone. 'Yes you look very old, I'm not even sure how you're still alive given all those wrinkles. Four thousand years right?'

Sappho pouted at him and swatted his hand lightly.

'I'm not a day over three thousand, thank you very much. On Christianity, Jesus was a real man but I think he was a wizard who used a Horcrux using a bit of Greek magic. The Greek gods created the universe, Christianity is a lie.'

'If I convert can I shoot lasers?'

Sappho leaned over and clapped her hand onto his back then drew him into a warm hug that left him tingling to his toes.

'This is so sudden. But yes. Come join us. We might have to change your gender but I promise I'll do whatever I have to do to help you shoot lasers of love if you convert.

Harry felt very safe and happy in that hug. He felt quite a lot of desire too, more than he'd have thought his ten year old self could feel. He wanted to kiss Sappho then tell her everything. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to her shoulder, tears of happiness running from his eyes. Perhaps he could nuzzle her ear. He opened his eyes and started to move when he saw something above him.

Erfolg : Diplomatie. And next to it was a glowing pink heart symbol and a potion. When he looked at that symbol he could smell the scent of broom handles, of flowers, of treacle tart. Amortentia. The love potion. Harry felt the bitter darkness of betrayal fill him.

He jerked away from her. He wanted to shout at her but he loved her too much. He spoke, his voice sad and hurt.

'What did you do to me? I don't feel right.'

Sappho laughed and stood up, walking slowly towards him.

'I needed you on my side so I put forward my best face, was as diplomatic as I could be. And it worked, but not well enough.'

She backed him against the counter and pressed him into it, her body smelling delicious and intoxicating, her presence so welcome and so painful.

'Incidentally, I love myself a lot and earlier made myself a love potion which I put in that drink. You drank it. Sorry but, candy is dandy, but liqueur is quicker, isn't that the phrase? I would never tell you to drink it, that would be harming you and the house would kick me out, but if you steal my drink then it's not my fault.'

She pressed closer to him, pushing his arms back, holding him against the counter. Harry wanted to give in so much.

'Vernon turned the heating up. I think that was because of a prank I played on him. I cast a cooling charm. Sorry if that made you all sweaty.'

She pressed a soft hand to his cheek, making him shiver. She was going to corrupt him, make him her love slave. He wanted her to.

'And now you're mine. The love potion will take effect. We can-' She made a snipping motion with her fingers 'Fix you up and then you can learn to fire lasers and be with me. It's going to be great. We're going to have so much fun together. And the best thing about it is you don't have to think about it. You can't say no. You could no more hurt me or stop me than you could hurt yourself. The love for me is as strong as your self love, your sense of self preservation.'

Harry heard those last words and a desperate plan filled his mind. He drew closer to her, wrapping one his hands around hers.

'You're wrong about one thing, dear Sappho.'

'What's that Harry?'

'I'm a murderer. I failed my friends. I don't love myself. And I can hurt myself.'

He broke out of the grip of Sappho and swung around to grab a knife. He pressed it into her hands and then guided her hand to stab himself in the arm, all far faster than she could react. An overwhelming torrent of pain smashed through his body as the knife stabbed into him that washed away the love and desire and regret. He bit his lip to the point of tasting blood, trying to keep standing. Sappho appeared shocked, not moving.

'What did you- why did you-?' She jerked away from him as though electrified looking lost and confused clutching the hand that had stabbed him. He saw burn wounds on it.

Harry spat his blood at the floor.

'You 'accidentally' got me to drink your love potion. I 'accidentally' got you to stab me. Bellatrix, you stabbed me in my own home. How could you? I loved you.'

Sappho stood back and looked at Harry with a great deal of annoyance.

'Damn you, damn you to Tartarus.'

She started to glow brighter and brighter, a pale red light radiating from every pore of her body. Her hair stood up as though electrified, turning a bright intense red. She clenched her fists. Then around her a wave of white smoke, like that which had come from his hands and destroyed Voldemort in his first year, formed from nothing and started to encircle Sappho.

Sappho swore something and a wave of light forced the smoke back a foot or two. The smoke soon returned pushing the wave of light back and wreathing and surrounding Sappho. The light, of Eos Harry supposed, protected Sappho but the smoke kept trying to force it's way in, making small burn marks and scars wherever it broke the light. Her magic quickly repaired the damage though. A red light filled each injury for a moment and she was healed.

Harry focused on his pain. He focused on the image of his friends dying to death eaters because he had been too slow. He focused on the thought that he had slain house elves, that he had ended life. He focused on the feeling of betrayal that Dumbledore had enspelled him, that Sappho or Bellatrix or whoever had broken his will and that no matter how good or beautiful she was she was a death eater too. He tried to pick up a knife to stab her and failed, his hand flopping down the counter. He couldn't hurt his love.

Sappho was now sending out continual pulses of red light, forcing the white smoke back. She looked amazing at the moment, hands outstretched, glowing brightly, eyes focused and determined. Her hair flickered red with power, long and gloriously luscious. He remembered that when he had touched Voldemort it had burnt him.

He focused on his feelings of desire for her form, his loneliness. He focused on the warm feeling of happiness he had felt when Sappho held him. Then, timing his movement, he darted forward through the smoke and magic and wrapped his arms around her. White smoke burst out around his arms.

She screeched loudly in pain and smashed her hand at him. A shield of white smoke formed. Harry was knocked back down to the floor but the white smoke protected and shielded him from any harm.

Sappho glared at him, angry and in pain. The bottom half of her clothes had been sheered off by the burning magic. Her chest was badly burnt where he had hugged her, the skin covered with boils and burns to the point where he could see several of her ribs poking out. It wasn't healing. He felt very sorry for how much pain he had caused her. He started to get up to hold her and help her feel better. She hurridly backed away.

'Damn. I have to leave. Damn you again Harry. We could have been- argh.'

A white lash of smoke had forced its way to her body and was ripping a hole through her tunic, straight at her heart. Sappho flicked her hand out and her wand flew from Harry's hand to hers, yanked out with great force. Then. with a flash Sappho turned to a being of light and shot out of the window, smashing the glass out wide onto the Dursley's perfect green law. Harry then slumped back to the floor, exhausting physically and mentally. He then saw something flash in front of his eyes in big gold letters.

Punkte: 6000 fur den sieg 'Sappho'. Next to it a host of pictures floated, each with numbers next to them. They had words next to them but Harry did not understand the language. He could recognize some of the pictures. A man sneaking whilst holding a dagger behind his back, a woman riding a broomstick. A woman gesturing with a wand. A man speaking. A woman speaking while rubbing her body. A woman riding hippogriff. A man wielding a dagger. A man wearing a mask. A woman casting some spell at a person without an arm, restoring it. A man with pulsing waves of light coming from his head and another one with a woman with waves of light going to her head. Above it all, the mysterious word Fahigkeiten.

He had little time to think about that because soon a scream came from outside and a massive wave of light smashed into the house, blocked by a smokey barrier that surrounded the house. Then Sappho's loud voice rang out through his ears.

'I will not be denied, Harry!'

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><p>Thanks again to Dracos.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7: Metagaming

I rolled for every combat situation in this chapter. These were the rolls, unadjusted without modifiers. Sappho and Vernon both got a natural 20 and Harry got a natural 1. Bad luck for Harry.

12 20 3 11 12 16 9 4 13 4 16 12 1 20

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><p>Harry rushed to the window. Sappho stood in the middle of a flower patch in their back lawn, her feet surrounded by trampled blue flowers- Agapanthus he believed Dumbledore had called them. She had a grey coat wrapped around her chest to cover her prior nudity, one he thought was likely from Arabella Figg, his neighbour. He suppose she must have summoned it- a quick glance to the side confirmed this with a fragment of clothing still stuck on the fence.<p>

She had a ball of pink light clutched in her fist and still made his heart tingle when he looked at her. He averted his eyes quickly to try and avoid those feelings, though it made his heart hurt. She then threw the ball of light at the house- it smashed into the magical smoke barrier hard, forcing it right back to the window. A clump of smoke smashed off from outside and rolled all over the table. He grabbed a knife in the meantime and put it into his pocket.

'I will break your damn wards. I will smash them down. Damn you!' she screeched, summoning up more magic. His lover clearly needed some time to cool down.

In the meantime he would get his family out of the way of their spat. He turned around to his invisible cousin. Dudley. He brushed away some of the smoke that had surrounded him. He then grasped him tightly and pulled him up onto one shoulder. It hurt carrying his extra weight on his broken leg but he seemed to have lost no strength going back in time despite his smaller frame and even this weak could support his weight. Magic. It was ok for now, though a sudden jar might yank it all apart.

He started hobbling towards the door. He tried to undo it but it was locked. Probably Sappho's spells. He leaned against the door, trying to ignore the sounds and lights of Sappho trying to break the barrier. Thinking, he spoke to the unconscious Dudley who was drooling on his shoulder. It was better than speaking to a wall at least.

'Dudley. What should I do? I can't get through the door and escape. I can't fight her, I love her-' There was another boom, and more smoke flew in, '-I can't raise my hand against her. But she wants to do stuff to me. I've heard of the Greeks, I know from class that they liked buggering children.' the room flashed bright red again, another huge boom came from the window, 'She probably wants to do the same. And I want that now. I really want her. I want her to use me-' Sappho shouted at him from afar 'You burnt me Harry, you burnt me, how could you!' And sent another blast at him. '-however she wants. But I know it's a really bad idea and I feel sick and hurt at the idea and from the love potion and I'm going to hate myself more when it wears off. But I can't say no,' There was a crinkling sound, like glass bending inwards and cracking, '-to her.'

'I shurred her.' slurred Dudley. He glanced at him. Clumps of him were now visible despite the invisibility spell. His face mostly, some of his arms. He didn't remember classes perfectly but he knew most spells didn't wear off this fast.

'You showed her what?' He asked, thinking. Was it because she was outside the house? Did her spells depend on range?

'Tee-her.' The arts teacher from earlier he supposed who Dudley had humiliating himself in front. 'She weren nish.' Or maybe that smoke? The spells had been smashing it into the house. Perhaps it countered Sappho's magic? She had magical alcohol then in that candy? He should ask her about that sometime. He flicked a clump of smoke up to his hand.

'Bottoms up' He mashed it into Dudley's face. Dudley's translucent face appeared before him, big and bulbous and red. It was slowly becoming more visible and he seemed to be waking up more.

'She wasn't nice to me after the song. She didn't even look at me, wouldn't talk to me. She talked to others. She betrayed me. I showed her.'

Harry flicked another foot full of magical white smoke up to his hand and then stopped. He looked at Dudley.

'You hurt her? You hurt the woman you loved? How?' It hurt him to think about hurting Sappho. He instead tried to think of hurting... McGonagall. Yes, he imagined he was in love with McGonagall and wanted to hit her. He scooped up a handful of the magic smoke stuff and rubbed it over the door handle. It gave a little more now. He tried to ignore Sappho's shouts and the booms in the background and focus on Dudley. She was impressively powerful and it was pretty great for her that she could smash down a barrier that Voldemort couldn't. He should ask her to teach him sometime.

'I copied her handwriting and sent romantic love letters to all of those bastards she was cheating on me with. The school gave them all detentions for pranking her. Showed them.'

'You are really messed up and so is the school.'

Dudley weakly punched his shoulder. Maybe he shouldn't have said that? He needed information from him.

'Shut up.'

'No. Tell me more.'

'Don't wanna. You're mean. Sappho was nice. You're just a freak.'

Harry paused and rubbed his forehead, stressed. Sappho the very nice one was outside sending blasts of ruby through the house every few seconds. The barrier outside looked more frail with each passing second and the kitchen floor looked a bit like a cloud now with how much of the barrier had fragmented and fallen on the floor. He had to ignore this and bargain with a petulant and evil child. He drew in a deep breath and spoke.

'I'm sorry Dudley. I was just jealous of how smart and clever you were. I want to be less freaky and more like you.' Above Dudley's head the successful diplomacy sign flashed.

'I knew it.' said Dudley, smiling, his fat face looking a bit like a pig's after you fed it an apple.

'Please, tell me why you showed your teacher what was what. Teach me like you taught her.'

'She betrayed me. Left me for those others. You can't have that can you? A man-' Harry tried to avoid snorting at this 'deserves respect from his woman, deserves her not playing with everyone who comes close.'

Jealousy. He could work with that, even though what Dudley had done was really messed up. People did hurt their partners because of jealousy, even ones they really loved. If... Mcgonagall had been playing in the dungeons with Snape among the potion fumes and dark columns he would feel really betrayed. Angry even. If Sappho didn't love him enough, if she left him for someone else and he never got to kiss those lips, if she kissed someone else...

His hand, which had been resting on the door knob jerked down. The door flew open. Harry looked at his hand. Held inside it, tightly clenched, was the door knob, ripped physically off the door with the lock. His pulse was racing and he felt mad.

As he started dragging Dudley towards In the corner of his vision a message popped up. Potenz Entrigelt: Hausliche Gewalt. The screen in front of him with all those weird images focused in on one of the images he hadn't been able to decipher. It was one of a woman speaking to a man while shaking his shoulders. The Potenz message then flew towards that image, getting smaller as it flew across the screen, and vanished into it.

He looked at the words next to that image. Terrorisieren on the left, and on the right the word Sclammblut- the same as that weak looking version of him back in Hogwarts whose arm he had smashed off and who he guessed was now lying unconscious and bleeding within his or her statue body.

When he looked at that word, Sclammblut, a small box popped up above it saying 6000-2000=Tierwesen There was a little green tick next to it and a red cross. He flicked his eyes over the other symbols. There were a lot of muggels, some sclammbluts, a small number of tierwesens, and one halbblut next to what he could now see was a man riding a broom. Maybe it was some sort of grading system? He could... terrorize people with jealousy as well as a sclammblutt, but if he pressed the tick he could terrorize them as well as a tierwesen at the cost of 2000 points?

He started at the tick for a second or so and it flashed. The label next to it transformed into Tierwesen. He flicked his eyes around a bit more and soon at the cost of another 4000 points he was a halbblut in terrorisiren. He'd go all in.

Distracted by the screen Harry didn't hear or see Vernon running down the stairs, shotgun in hand. They collided and were sent into a sprawl. Harry heard a horrific crack as the break in his leg returned, twisting out to an awkward angle. Agony shot through him making his vision shake and his whole body burn. When he opened his eyes again Vernon was up on his feet, less shakey pointing the shotgun at his face.

'What did you do you freak? What are you doing.'

Harry couldn't focus. Agony was filling his body and his leg was at such a horrible angle. He could feel it, hot waves of pain with every heart beat.

'I... err'

Vernon jabbed the shotgun at his face.

'Speak up, what did you do to Dudley this time? What are those sounds from the kitchen?'

He had to get through this. He had to so he could meet Sappho again. He couldn't die here. He had to hold Sappho one last time. The thought of that strengthened him a little but a fresh wave of agony overwhelmed it. He still couldn't get it together.

'I err... woman.'

Vernon placed his foot on Harry's chest and pressed his shotgun to Harry's burnt face. The touch sent fresh agony through him. Then he spoke through gritted teeth, voice angry and brooking no disobedience.

'WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON YOU FREAK!'

Erfolg: Terrorisieren flashed above Vernon's head. He could feel it too, the urge to comply with him, to give him anything he wanted. Emotionally his hate for their violence had shifted to fear that left him little desire to retaliate. But two could play at that game.

He pulled himself up onto his elbows, pushing past the pain and spoke, trying to be as angry and terrorizing as he could be.

'That woman, one of Voldemort's damn servants who you let into our house, is trying to kill us. She cursed your son with magic, yes magic, because you failed as a father. Now you will take me out away from here with your son through the front door or so help me god I will take that shotgun and shove it up your rear. You want freak? I will given you FREAK.'

As he said freak he smashed his fist to the floor and a wave of magical force flew out from his fist. The large and expensive television screen visible in the living room fell off its stand. Every picture frame of their lawn, their happy family without Harry, and of Vernon's job cracked and flew to the floor which was cracking in lines away from his fist. Vernon's shotgun was yanked from his hands and tossed to the side. Vernon himself had been pushed back to the wooden stairs, thrown onto his rear. Petunia was standing at the top of the stairs pressed to the wall looking terrified.

Vernon nodded. 'Yes. You're right. I'm sorry. I'll take you out of here. What do you need?'

Harry sat there shocked as the Erfolg floated above Vernon's head. Was this what it felt like, to use a 'Potenz' on a person? He had played Vernon as easily as Dumbledore had played him, as easily as Sappho had. His musings were interrupted by another booming shock of ruby magic. A river of smoke flooded the room and a horrible cracking sound rung through the house.

'Ready or not, here I come.' Came Sappho's pained voice. He guessed they'd play hide and seek.

'Grab your shotgun, stuff the end with that smoke, it can hurt her. Together we have to get Dudley to the front lawn. Petunia, run away as fast as you can.'

He turned back to Vernon. His shotgun was smoked up and he had Dudley and was going to pick up him. He grasped Vernon's arm and came to his feet on his good leg. The other was pulsating with pain and yes he could see a bloody bone sticking out. Maybe he could use the smoke to fix it? He threw a handful of smoke at his leg. It bounced off ineffectively. Maybe not. It was good he was used to the sight of blood. It looked a bit like Sappho's red light too.

They soon reached the front lawn. He gestured to Vernon to lean him against the wall and gestured to him to go against the other wall. 'Ambush' He said. Vernon nodded, putting Dudley down to the wall. 'Nobody, no matter how pretty, is going to smash up my house.' Harry pumped a fist. 'Yay capitalism.' Vernon frowned at him. 'It's not about money, it's about showing others you care about yourself. Now shush.' Harry went silent, complying with him. Petunia, not wanting to abandon her family and apparently not terrorized enough was standing with a letter cutting knife by her husband.

They waited. As they did, Harry saw a rosy red flash up above him. There was Sappho, coming down from the roof. She had changed her attire- she now wore some bronze armor, held a bronze shield, and had a long spear strapped to her hand which must be guided by magic because she also held her wand. She was coming at Vernon.

Harry yelled out to him and Vernon moved his shotgun up to fire. She twisted her spear expertly at him and knocked the shotgun away. The white mist jumped to her spear and started to singe the end though some even faster effect instantly incinerated the shotgun.

Petunia stabbed with the knife which Harry saw was wreathed in smoke. She managed to score a hit on Sappho's chest, but the armor, apparently designed for this, popped off her chest and was slowly consumed by the smoke. Petunia's knife was consumed by the flames.

It was Harry's time. Do or die. He imagined Sappho with Draco, their bodies entwinned passionately. He imagined her abandoning him, that red hair being lost from him forever. He imagined the pair of them spitting in his face.

His bad leg and the weakness of his desire to actually hurt the beautiful amazing person he loved based on a silly hypothetical scenario (I mean, it was fairly obvious she was into girls, Hermione would have been a much better choice) tripped him up. He collapsed to the floor and was incapacitated by his agony.

Shortly after he was woken up. Vernon and Petunia were glancing around, paralysed by what looked like a spell. He was bound by magical ropes and Sappho was leaning over him. His leg was surprisingly ok despite the agony. He glanced at it and saw that it was bound into a proper angle by some cloth.

'I fixed that for you. Also, don't worry, I've forgiven you. I realize I came on a bit strong. Years trapped in Elysium do that to you. It's full of type A personality male heroes.' Sappho said.

She was dressed in her green skirt again and was waving her soft, shapely arms above him. She had a new perfume now. It smelt just like a broomstick. He lost himself in her scent and found himself reaching to touch her. He pulled back somehow, some great effort.

'I appreciate it but I... don't want to be a girl, and I... shouldn't sleep with you, I want to but I know I shouldn't. I feel sick about what I'm doing. I can't do it.'

'Aphrodite can fix that. I can ask her to change your mental gender and orientation.'

'I like being a guy though.'

'I saw what they did to you. That was part of how I forgive you. Your face was burnt, your leg broken. You are covered in scratches from plants which I know because I changed your clothes.' He saw he was wearing a green tunic now. 'And I have no idea what you did to make you so depressed but I am definitely blaming them. I don't think you're mentally fit to choose your fate, so I'll make it better for you.' She seemed pretty certain. He doubted he could make much headway against that.

'I guess. So, what are you up to now.'

'I'm trying to work out how your mother's protections work. Hurt a lot. Sensing the magic around it.'

'You're very open with what you're doing.'

'As I said, gods like honestly. Plus it helps to guide you.'

'Guide me?'

'Along a path. I chose what information I revealed. I was hoping if you did try something you'd try to get me to break my oaths to the gods or get me to attack you or something- I could deal with those. I didn't expect you to be so masochistic though it's not a huge issue- in time I can repair any damage to this shell. I'm here to help you now though.' He had to try again to stop her.

'If you want to help me, don't change me. Don't force me.'

She looked into his eyes, hers glowing red, her hands paused, wand out. 'In time every mother's love must yield to the passion of love.' She pointed her wand at him. 'Imperio'

Harry felt the overwhelming pull of the woman's magic fill his mind. He might have resisted but why resist someone you loved? She spoke to him, in her soft seductive voice and he obeyed.

'I hate my mother. I reject her utterly. She never helped me and was never any good to me. I detest my mother.'

Harry felt something snap inside of him, something fundamental. He also felt a deep desire and warmth inside him for this kind and wonderful woman.

Sappho then pulled red light onto her fingers from nothing and sent a pulse of energy through him. He shuddered as it ran through him, filling him to his toes. As she did large red letters flashed in front of his eyes:

SPEILER DEAKTIVIERT. VIDEOSEQUENZ ARABELLA FINCH.

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><p>Thanks to Dracos, any other reviewers are appreciated as always.<p> 


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